‘They Had Rs 5 In Their Pocket, And Were Killed For Rs 15 Debt’

An era where Rs 15 debt is the reason to kill a poor couple and the killer has no regrets!

A man from the Dalit community has been beheaded by an axe and his wife hacked to death after a turmoil over a 15 rupees debt in Uttar Pradesh state leaving their children orphans who now have no idea how to live their life ahead.

Police stated the couple was murdered by a grocer early on Thursday when they told him they needed time to pay for biscuits they had bought from him.

The accused, Ashok Mishra has been arrested after breaking down the door of his house when he and his wife refused to come out fearing the protests and outrage, but “he has no regrets,” said SP Dev Ranjan Verma, reportedTOI.

The incident took place when the couple was on their way to work and they were stopped by Ashok Mishra, the owner of a village grocery, who demanded the couple pay the money for three packets of biscuits that they had bought for their three children a few days ago, reports say.

The couple reportedly told him they would pay after they received their daily wages later in the evening.

“While Mishra kept shouting for the money, the couple started walking towards the fields. Mishra then ran to his house nearby and returned with an axe. He hacked Bharat (45) repeatedly and then attacked Mamta (41) who was trying to rescue her husband. The couple died on the spot,”told Nadeem, a local villager, reported The Indian Express.

This led to the rising tension and heated protests by Dalit groups, took place in Mainpuri district’s Lakhnipur, just 4 kilometres away from Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s family home in Saifai.

Officials said that security in the village has been stepped up and policemen deputed to protect the three children left behind the Dalit couple.

The slain couple’s daughter Milan said her poor parents had just Rs 5 in their pockets to feed themselves when they went out for work and were killed.

Milan is unsure how her three younger brothers – Rahul (15), Ranjit (13), and Lallu (8) – will survive now. “They have no one and I’m not sure if my husband’s family will let them stay with me. We too have a hand-to-mouth existence,” the girl told to TOI, who has another married elder sister. They are 5 siblings in total.

Though the state government had announced a Rs 5 lakh compensation for the family, Milan said she didn’t know how and when the family would get it.

“We have lodged an FIR against the accused under IPC section 302 and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The accused has confessed to his crime and we have recovered the weapon, too. Teams from Karhal, Barnal, and Kurra police stations are camping in the village to maintain peace,” said SP Verma.